Princeton residents will have another opportunity to draft and approve a home rule charter.
Council held an executive session to discuss the formation of a new Home Rule Charter Commission during the Monday, Jan. 24 regular meeting.
Councilmembers chose to nominate a new group of members because the original commission only had 13 residents show up to take part. City Attorney David Overcash met with council during the executive session to consult them on various options and they elected to nominate a new body.
The Home Rule Charter Commission will be tasked with developing a charter for the city. This will be the city’s fifth attempt at ratifying a charter after the previous four were unable to garner enough support on the ballot.
In order for a city to be eligible for home rule, it must have at least 5,000 residents, draft a charter and approve it during an election. Because Princeton has not approved a charter, they fall under the designation of general law which means they are only allowed to do what the state legislature tells them to do through state law.
If residents approve a charter, the city can begin to pass ordinances unless explicitly prohibited by any actions the legislature takes.
Council approved a resolution nominating 15 residents to the Home Rule Charter Commission along with three alternates. This is an alternate measure a city can take to create a charter commission, said Overcash.
The appointed commissioners are: Jody Sutherland, Jeff Truitt, Kelly Carr, David Walker, John Reagan, Lindsay Kessler, Jake Ehrle, Steven Starkey, Jeff Watson, Nikki Krum, Ryan Gerfers, Maxine Ellis, Rachel Wallace, Brenda Honea and Ryan Shiflet. Matthew Krum, Casey Murphy and Mike Brinkerhoff will serve as alternate delegates.
For the full story, see the Feb. 3 issue of the Princeton Herald.
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